Systems known generally in industry as Electronic Flow Meters, or EFMs have been used since as early as the 1970s to measure production of oil and gas from wells and with its transmission through pipelines. A well recognized class of EFM is one that was developed by the Amoco Production Company and known by the product name AMOCAMS. The AMOCAMS EFMs are also described as Remote Terminal Units, or RTUs, because they include the ability to transmit measurement and other information from remote locations by radio or other communication link. EFM is a more general designation and will be used in the rest of this application. These devices have been used in many applications, commonly to aid in automation of the production of gas from a large gas field consisting of many wells.
These systems have enjoyed such success and longevity of use that they have become recognized as a de facto standard in the industry, but they are no longer being manufactured. Many components used in the AMOCAMS EFMs are now obsolete, making repair of damaged units very difficult. However, many users still prefer the AMOCAMS EFMs because of their specific features and capabilities. Additionally, it is cumbersome to combine use of more than one type of EFM in a single application.
It is this circumstance that led the applicants to develop a new EFM using modern components and technology that would be “drop-in” compatible particularly with the AMOCAMS Model 700 EFM, that is, having most or all of the operational features of that unit, and being for all practical purposes identical with regard to communication protocols. This would allow failing AMOCAMS units to be replaced, one at a time, completely transparently to the rest of the field automation system. This, of course, allows for an orderly transition to new equipment instead of having to replace an entire complement of EFMs for a given oil and gas field, or pipeline, at once.